The period map for cubic fourfolds (Q1022341)

The primitive cohomology of nonsingular cubic fourfold \(Y \subset {\mathbb P}^{5}\) is located in the middle dimension (four) and has as nonzero Hodge numbers \(h^{3,1} = h^{1,3} = 1\) and \(h^{2,2}_{0} = 20.\) The question that remained was the image of this period map. The main goal of this paper is to prove Hassett's conjecture. But proof yield more, such as a new proof of Voisin's injectivity theorem. The author shows that Vinberg's Dynkin diagram of an arithmetic reflection group of hyperbolic type of rank 20 gives an insightful picture of the boundary strata and their incidence relations. Theorem 4.1. The period map for cubic fourfolds with at most simple singularities, \(P : \dot{M} \to X,\) is an open embedding with image \(\dot{X}.\) It identifies the automorphic line bundle restricted to \(\dot{X}\) with the line bundle \(O_{M^{o}}(2)\) so that we obtain an isomorphism of \({\mathbb C}\)-algebras \[ \bigoplus_{k}H^{0}(\dot{{\mathbb D}}, A(k))^{\Gamma} \rightarrow {\mathbb C}[Sym^{3}V^{*}]^{SL(V)} \] which multiplies the degree by 2. The passage to \(Proj\) makes the above embedding extend to an isomorphism of the GIT completion of \(\dot{M}\) onto the Baily-Borel type compactification \(\dot{X}^{bb}\) of \(\dot{X}.\)